Kejriwal warns discoms over power cuts

Power supply has to improve within six months or discoms will have to pay consumers on hourly basis of outage

GN Bureau | June 1, 2016


#Arvind Kejriwal   #AAP   #electricity   #Power cuts   #DERC   #Delhi  


In wake of frequent power cuts and power outages, the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) took out a notification on Monday addressing power companies to compensate consumers for outages extending up to two hours. The default period will be considered from the time someone registers a complaint till the time supply is restored.

The compensation amount can range from Rs 25 to Rs 100 per hour and the Delhi Electricity Supply Code and Performance Standard regulations will become effective immediately, the notification read.

Following this, Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday issued a warning to distribution companies to improve power supply within six months or end up paying consumers on hourly basis of outage.

“For now, we have asked discoms to compensate consumers for unscheduled power cuts extending up to two hours. But after six months, if there is no improvement in their power supply network, government will bring it down to one hour,” he said.

In his warning, Kejriwal said that the companies will be held "accountable" even if there is outage for an hour and so that Delhiites will benefit from the privatisation of the power sector.

The Aam Aadmi Party tweeted on Tuesday:

 

“Why electricity wires and transfers get damaged only in Delhi? Why are there no such incidents in Washington, London and New York?” asked Kejriwal.

“We will also make Delhi a world-class city and for this, the accountability of discoms should be fixed for power outages,” he added.

The authorities have also urged people to stop using non-important power consuming appliances during peak hours to meet the demand.

Last week, the Delhi government had directed DERC, under section 108 of the Electricity Act, to penalise the companies for frequent power cuts.
Power minister Satyender Jain had also chaired a meeting with the distribution companies and directed them to immediately deploy additional teams to minimise the complaints of electricity consumers.

The Asian Age reported that the discoms, pointed out that the DERC order is impractical and the upgradation of the entire infrastructure is a long-winding process to fix accountability. “The power network will have to be revamped to determine the reason for the outages — whether it is on account of distribution, transmission or generation failure or the consumer’s own installation failure. Who will determine whether the prescribed timelines have been exceeded or not in borderline cases and the cases where consumers do not want to seek compensation. This is particularly so with regard to power supply related complaints where frivolous complaints cannot be ruled out,” a discom official said.

Comments

 

Other News

India’s forest cover increases by 5,516 sq km in four years

The Dehradun-based Forest Survey of India (FSI), an organization under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, carries out the assessment of forest cover biennially since 1987 and the findings are published in the India State of Forest Report (ISFR). As per the latest ISFR 2021, there is a

Steps taken to meet higher power demand of April-May

While the average growth of energy requirement in the country for 2023-24 viz-a-viz 2022-23 has been estimated as 4.9%, the months of April and May have been projected as high demand period. During the current year, the peak demand is expected to be around 229 GW during the summer period. The government ha

Millets to make comeback in army ration after half a century

As the UN has declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets, the Indian Army has steered introduction of millets flour in the rations of soldiers. This landmark decision will ensure troops are supplied with native and traditional grains after over half a century, when these were discontinued in favour

Central Bank Digital Currency has game-changing potential

When discussing digital currency, you might think of one or two well-known varieties. There is the digital representation of currency that you access with mobile and online banking services. This currency is the liability of a commercial bank. There is also cryptocurrency, a digital medium of exchange issu

An Insider’s Account of the Zail Singh Years: The Endgame

The Indian President: An Insider’s Account of the Zail Singh Years By K.C. Singh HarperCollins, 312 pages, Rs.699  

‘My Father Was a Simple Man’: Remembering Gen. Rawat

Bipin: The Man Behind the Uniform By Rachna Bisht Rawat Penguin, 207 pages, Rs 599 On the morning of 8 December 202

Visionary Talk: Amitabh Gupta, Pune Police Commissioner with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now


Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook    Twitter    Google Plus    Linkedin    Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter